title: Is the low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion/atypical squamous cells cannot exclude high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion category associated with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A number of cervical smears may exhibit unequivocal low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL) in association with atypical cells cytomorphologically suspicious, but not sufficient to be interpreted as high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL). These lesions are presently called LSIL, atypical squamous cells cannot exclude HSIL (LSIL/ASC-H). Previous studies have shown that LSIL/ASC-H and ASC-H are both equivocal for HSIL and have a high risk of underlying HSIL. However, in researching the literature only two studies were found which rendered the results as cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 2 and CIN3 separately. The purpose of this study was to compare the distribution of biopsy results for CIN2 and CIN3 in patients with ASC-H, HSIL, and LSIL/ASC-H.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between January 2005 and December 2011, cervicovaginal smears (98,594) with a diagnosis of ASC-H, LSIL, LSIL/ASC-H, or HSIL were re-evaluated to determine the prevalence of future lesion development.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 252 patients who had histologic follow-up within a year were selected. Among these, LSIL/ASC-H (31.7%) had the highest prevalence of CIN2 between LSIL (9.3%), ASC-H (10%), and HSIL (16%). All differences were statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Because of the high predictive value of CIN2, LSIL/ASC-H may have further importance, especially in women of different age groups.
authors.affiliation: Pathology Department, Zeynep Kamil Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Handan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cetiner
authors.forename: Gözde
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kır
authors.forename: Ecmel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kaygusuz
authors.forename: Yeşim
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sağlıcan
authors.forename: Canan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kabaca
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D015995:Prevalence; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D014626:Vaginal Smears; D055815:Young Adult